WikiDumper: The Official Appreciation Page for the Best of the Wikipedia Rejects. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” (Edited by Cliff Pickover, www.pickover.com, author of "The Math Book.")

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Fan Death

Fan death is an urban legend that originated in South Korea, but has since spread to other countries in the Far East. The belief is that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can result in the death (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia) of those inside. This belief also extends to air conditioners and the fans in cars. When the air conditioner or fan is on in a car, some people are apt to leave their car windows open a crack to avoid "fan death." Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.

Author and academic Rudy Rucker actually linked this article on his blog and discussed it. He even claimed to suffer from it mildly (but I think he really meant discomfort from forced air). He also discussed another type of mass hysteria called Penis Panic which is even more fascinating.

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